Another Life
by Julianna Edwards
Summary: A few years ago, Harry Potter died by his own hand. Or did he? A newspaper article leads to some startling conclusions and sends Hermione and Ron on a wild goose chase.
1. Default Chapter

A/N: This is one of my longest chapters/stories yet. According to Microsoft Word (which is a really good program) it's 1,208 words. Not including author notes, disclaimer, and chapter heading and title. It's also terrific, or so I've heard from my beta reader (who is really good at making corrections and suggestions). I'm hoping it lives up to my expectations. As a side note, to all those who read "All That Glitters" (my worst story ever-I don't recommend reading it) this story was based on that. It's much better though and takes place after that story. I guess you could say it's the sequel although you don't have to read that story to understand this one. Anyway, this is long enough so I'll stop here and move onto the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: The only things I own are the muggle café, Hermione's apartment (although I don't live there or pay rent), and the plot. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling and whoever else shares the rights of the Harry Potter books.

Chapter 1

The Articles

It was a busy day. People were rushing here and there trying to be on time for whatever appointments. Nobody even noticed the small shack standing in between two larger stores, and no one noticed the man coming out of it. After all, this was the city and people tended to ignore their surroundings in their haste.

The man was reading a newspaper as he was walking. He barely missed bumping into a large group people who had dodged him at the last minute after seeing his shocking red hair above the paper. Ronald Weasley barely noticed. He was particularly interested in one article entitled "_Harry Potter-Dead or Alive?"_

It wasn't a very unusual title. There was usually at least one article about the Boy Who Lived a week, usually filled with false, and often foolish, evidence about Harry Potter being alive. Even though his funeral had been held five years ago.

This article, however, had a picture. A somewhat fuzzy picture, but it was in color and what had caught Ron off guard was the shocking green eyes of the man in the picture. 

So, he had kept on reading. There was a bulleted list of evidence to go along with the picture and, instead of being foolish and false, it actually made sense. Ron knew that the article was right in saying that Harry took a large sum of money out of his Gringotts bank account about two days before he disappeared. He had told Ron it was an anniversary present for Cho Chang, his previous girlfriend, but it had never been bought. Ron had never given it much thought, but the article pointed out that no one would withdraw such a large sum and then kill themselves. It also pointed out that this money had been converted to muggle money, a fact which Harry had somehow managed to keep hidden from Ron. There were several points like that. Harry's body had never been found, and his wand had been found snapped in half on his trunk the day _after _the funeral was held. 

Ron, despite the warning screaming in the back of his mind, felt hope rise. The evidence made sense and added up to one startling, thought not unpleasant, conclusion. The famous Harry Potter was not dead.

Folding his newspaper and sticking it under his arm, Ron walked into a deserted alley and disappeared.

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Hermione Granger sat down at her kitchen table and poured some milk into her cereal. Picking up her copy of The Daily Prophet, which had been dropped off only minutes before, she sat down and started to eat her breakfast. She flipped through the paper, pausing here and there to read an article. Nothing really caught her eye. Finally she gave up on the newspaper and folded it back up. As she went to put it down on the table so she could continue eating her breakfast, she saw another newspaper on the table. Puzzled, she picked it up and looked at the front page. It was obviously a missing section from The Daily Prophet that had fallen out. Flipping through, but not really concentrating on it, Hermione missed the article title that had caught Ron's attention earlier that day. She did not, however, miss the picture. Instead, she stared at it for a few minutes before her eyes flicked down to the caption. 

__

"A picture of the man believed to be Harry Potter." Her eyes flicked back up to the picture, taking in the fuzziness and distinctive green eyes. The man's black hair was longer than Harry's had been but it had been five years. The only thing missing was the lightning scar which, Hermione thought absentmindedly, was probably either hidden by magic or, if Harry didn't want to be found, even muggle makeup. Still not quite believing, even though she knew the man in the picture could have passed for Harry's twin, she started to read the article. Quickly skimming the introductory paragraph, Hermione's eyes flicked down to the bulleted list which she read carefully, oblivious to everything around her as certain things fell into place. 

She had always felt uneasy about Harry's death. Hermione had always thought that she'd be able to feel it when Harry died, the same way she thought she'd be able to feel Ron's death. In school the three had been inseparable and shared a bond which was only rivaled by the Marauders. But after Harry's funeral there had been no such feeling. It just felt strange, like a part of her missing, but wasn't completely gone. Hermione had shared this with Ron, who had admitted to feeling the same, although his feeling wasn't quite as strong as Hermione's. Like many women, she was of the opinion that men were less intuitive than the female race and had concluded that this was the reason for the weaker feelings. After their graduation, the year after Harry's funeral, they had searched everywhere for him. 

"But only in the magical world," she remembered. They had never bothered looking in the muggle world, although now that Hermione thought about it, that would have been the logical place to look. On impulse she looked back at the introductory paragraph. The picture had been taken outside a little muggle café in London. Feeling incredibly hopeful, more then she'd ever felt since she and Ron had gone looking for Harry, she put the paper down to start a letter to Ron only to find the redhead sitting in the chair across from her. Her jaw dropped, and Ron grinned. 

"I was wondering how long it would take you to notice me," he said taking a sip from one her cups, "I helped myself to a cup of tea. I figured you wouldn't mind." Hermione shook her head and then remembered to close her mouth. She started to say something but then thought better of it and looked thoughtfully at Ron. He had really grown up in the past five years. The death of Harry, which may or may not have actually happened, had given him a certain determination that showed in the way he walked. The disappointment of looking but never finding their best friend could also be seen in his eyes. Otherwise there were just little differences. He was no longer thin, but instead was lean and just as tall as ever. He had more muscles in his arms as a result of working out, and his job at the Ministry of Magic had taught him how to work hard and how to be serious. Feeling her gaze on him, Ron put down the tea and looked at her. 

"I guess you saw the article," he said softly nodding at the paper on the table. She sat down and nodded. 

"I got a letter from Albus today," Ron continued. Hermione looked up in surprise, Albus Dumbledore rarely wrote them letters, preferring to simply contact them through the fire place.

"What did he want?" she asked curiously, wondering if it had anything to do with the article she had read this morning.

"Well, he wants to talk to us. Today," Ron answered. Hermione nodded and excused herself to get dressed. They would leave as soon as she was ready. 

A/N: So, what did I tell you? It's not bad right? Now, for all those who are saying "yes" to these questions, please review. It's not that hard and doesn't take a lot of time. It would really make my day and put me in a better mood. That means it could be your good deed of the day! For all those who said "no", you can review too. I always appreciate constructive criticism. Anyway, it's about 11:00 and I'm really tired so I think I'll go to bed (I have an amazing ability for restating the obvious and repeating myself. couldn't you tell?). Anyway, thanks for reading! 


	2. Homeward Bound

A/N: I'm back!!! Does anyone ever actually read these author notes? Maybe I'll be like some other authors and put two chapters up at once, one an author's note and one the actual chapter. That's not too bad an idea actually. Maybe I'll do it next week. 

Disclaimer: I think just about everyone who reads Harry Potter fics knows that these belong only to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, etc. I'm not one of these people/companies. I am only doing this for the fun of it and for the reviews (hint, hint).

Another Life

Chapter 2

About two hours after Ron and Hermione left to talk with Professor Dumbledore, a man was having a cup of coffee in a muggle café. He had a newspaper in front of him, but folded it whenever someone came near him. Finally he folded the newspaper up and put it in his pocket. Taking one last sip of coffee, he laid some money down on the counter and headed towards the door seemingly unaware that everyone was looking at him. Indeed, he was so used to these stares that he hardly noticed them anymore. The man was about six feet tall and had a commanding appearance that automatically attracted attention. His black hair was shoulder length and was pulled back away from his face, exposing his bright blue eyes. He also wore black jeans, a black t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. He left the café and the people inside heard the roar of a motorcycle fading off in the distance.

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As the man in black sped along the city road, he thought about the newspaper he had read. It had contained a rather interesting article about the supposed sighting of a man who was presumed dead. It wasn't an unusual article, at least, not for the newspaper the man had been reading. There were similar articles about the same thing almost every week. However this article was different. This one had a picture.

The man sighed and pulled into the parking lot of a rather large hotel. That picture had been one of his greater mistakes. He had been wearing prescription sunglasses so he didn't bother wearing his contacts that changed his eye color from green to blue. Then, as he had been about to enter his favorite coffee shop, he had taken off his sunglasses and started to insert his contacts. He'd heard a loud gasp and had immediately looked up just in time to see a young man snap his picture. He quickly replaced his contacts and put on his sunglasses as he started to walk towards the man. Eventually it wound up in a chase since the camera man had obvious sensed that he was in trouble. However the man had dodged into a back alley and disappeared without a trace.

He had hoped that the picture wouldn't wind up in the paper and for two days his hopes held. However this morning had proved that his hopes were false. Pulling his key out of his pocket, the man opened the door to the lobby hoping to make it to his room without any disturbance. However he had no such luck.

"Good morning James!" a cheerful voice suddenly rang out. James, his thoughts interrupted, looked up to see a perky redhead sitting at the desk.

"Morning Lisa," he called back to her mentally sighing. He'd been staying in the hotel for about two months and most of the staff knew him by sight, if not by name. He walked up the stairs to the fourth floor eventually reached his room. It wasn't very fancy, but it was fairly large, with a bathroom, a refrigerator, and of course a bed. It also had a chest of drawers for clothes.

James walked over to his bed and pulled out two suitcases. He packed, while deciding on the next place to disappear to. America was one of the first places that came to mind, but he'd already spent the last three years there and it was expensive to fly over. He finally decided on Scotland. 

"After all," he thought, "I've never been to Scotland in the summer. I only went for school . . .". Here he stopped packing and sat down on his bed as the memories came crashing down on him. His old school, Hogwarts, was in Scotland. He hadn't seen it since he left and wasn't exactly happy about the idea of going back. 

He had left the school right after graduation and faked his own death to make sure people wouldn't come looking for him. It had all been too much to handle. Most people believed he had killed the Dark Lord who had raged war on the wizarding world. They were wrong though, and eventually James had gotten tired of all the praise and attention for something he didn't even do. Nobody realized that Voldemort was only temporarily gone. He had lost most of his powers and had fled to regain his strength. Just like he had twenty two years ago when James had first defeated him. 

So many people had died so he could have the chance to destroy Voldemort and all he had done was stall him for a couple years. This had been the real reason he'd decided to leave. He felt guilty for lying to the people who thought he was a hero and he'd felt responsible for all the people who had died in vain for him. 

When he couldn't stand the guilt he had decided to leave. He bought contacts that would change his eye color and performed a spell on his hair to make it grow. He'd even decided to go by his middle name to help himself hide. 

As math had always been his best subject before he went to Hogwarts, James found a two year college in London and got a degree in accounting. He worked out and grew a couple more inches. Having always been a little short for his age, this growth spurt was appreciated and helped to change his appearance. After his college graduation he had decided he couldn't risk being so close to his old life and moved to America where he'd gotten a good accounting job. After about three years of working in a different country he had started to miss his old home. So he finally took his boss up on the offer of "a long needed vacation" and went back to England. He had chosen a hotel near the Leaky Cauldron and had returned to the wizarding world. Not as himself though. That would have attracted more attention than was necessary. He had gotten new robes and a new wand. He still had his old wand, of course, but that could be traced back to him. The last thing James wanted was for his friends to find out who he really was. He wanted to see them, but it had been hard enough to leave his only home in the first place. He wasn't sure he could do it again. 

Shaking his head to erase such thoughts of his past, James looked around his room. It was empty and neat, just like when he had first came here. He picked up his key, walked out, and locked the door behind him. He checked out in the lobby and walked to the parking lot. He put the suitcases in the saddle bags near the back of his bike, started the motorcycle up, and roared up the street that would, eventually, take him to Scotland.

A/N: So how was that? I know it was short, but I'm planning on making the next chapter longer and I will hopefully have it up a bit sooner than this one was. If I can get chapter 3 out before finals start everything will be great. Anyway thanks to Alexis, Nicky, Sherylyn, moonlight, Tidmag and Gen Raid-M.I.A. (Your stories are really good-now I'm going to have to return the favor and go review them), Lala, smile7499, and BayLeigh Colby Ford. You are all fabulous people with hearts of gold! Now, to those 200 or so people who read this and didn't review, I'm very glad my summary caught your interest but I wish you'd review. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed the new chapter. I should get the next one out fairly soon-right now this is the only story I'm working on. It's also my most promising. Anyway, duty (school work) calls. Please review, it'll make homework a little more bearable.


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